THE GARDENER, Starts with research of a religion, ends with poem which chants the peace.

An Iranian film maker and his son travel to Israel to investigate a world religion with 7 million followers, which originated in Iran a hundred and seventy years ago. Youth from all over the world come to Haifa, the center of this religion, to serve. Those who serve in the gardens that surround the holy places develop peace loving attitudes through their interactions with nature.

The father, as he accompanies a gardener from Papua New Guinea, finds similarities between the teachings of this religion, which was born in Iran, and with the positive ideas promoted by people like Mandela and Gandhi. He starts to question, that if the Iranian people had adopted a peaceful religion, maybe Iran would not be pursuing nuclear weapon today. He shares this idea with his son, who is also investigating religion, but the son strongly believes that all religions tend to bring about destruction. As a result of these arguments, father and son separate from one another and pursue their own paths. This film shows two completely different views on the religion. The director camera tries to portrait the example of two different generation of Iran through this story.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf has written over 30 literary and story books and directed 27 films, (Feature, documentaries and short films) in ten diffrent countries in Asia and Europe. The subject of Makhmalbaf’s works is human and his agonies and dreams.He has been awarded Honorary Doctorate in Literature by St Andrews University in Scotland 2010, Honorary Degree of Doctorate of Cinema from Nanterre University in France 2010 as well as more than 40 international awards. He has been appointed as the Dean of the Asian academy in 2006 in Busan film festival. Apart from his influence on the Iranian cinema he has been supporting the Afghan and Tajik cinema for more than a decade.